


i'm no good on my own anymore

by nerdytardis



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Character Study, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 20:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdytardis/pseuds/nerdytardis
Summary: It didn't take long for Patrick to realize that David’s morning routine was a bit of a production.He couldn’t help but find it endearing.  It was so fundamentally David, with all its little quirks and details, and Patrick loved everything about David so he loved this too.





	i'm no good on my own anymore

**Author's Note:**

> this got away from me after about a paragraph but i love this more than what i planned on writing?? so i hope you enjoy it too? 
> 
> title is from "i was an island" by allison weiss (which is an Excellent patrick+david song tbh)  
sorry for the inevitable typos

It didn't take long for Patrick to realize that David’s morning routine was a bit of a production.

Until he got out of bed, David was all clingy and sleepy, his edges smoothed out in the morning sun. Patrick was the only one allowed to see him like this anymore, all ruffled and fuzzy, and he reveled in it. 

Once it came time to get up and face the world, all of that was cleaned up and neatened and tucked away. Between skin care and hair touch-ups and an outfit for the day, David had a whole checklist of things to do before he even thought about breakfast. 

Patrick couldn't help but find it endearing. It was so fundamentally David, with all its little quirks and details, and Patrick loved everything about David so he loved this too. 

David was very diligent about the whole thing and kept the entire production organized along a shelf beside the sink. It was only when Patrick got in the way and tried to distract him with kisses and other suitably diverting things that anything was ever messed up or left out. 

Patrick used to love to do that, tugging David away with a smirk. He thought David looked perfect no matter what under-eye cream he was using, so why not steal away some more quality time together before they had to open up the store? 

But then, as he watched David unconsciously fret all day, his fingers skittering along his hair or his nails or the sweater he had to grab basically at random so they wouldn’t be late, Patrick realized that it was more than wanting to look good. 

It all became clear one night, when David had whispering in the dark:

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Patrick had asked, vaguely confused as he sleepily nuzzled into David’s shoulder.

“For always being…” David had stilled, the crickets outside growing louder for a moment, “For always being the same. For being you.”

“You’re welcome?”

David’s lungs filled and expanded with each breath, carrying the arm draped over David’s middle along with them. 

“There wasn’t anyone like that. Before.” David said, his words quiet and unsure, “Everyone always had to change with the latest trend. Everything did.”

They had both gone quiet then, digesting. Patrick had listened to David breath and tried to image what that shifting quicksand lifestyle might have been like. 

Add in more heartbreaks than anyone deserved and losing your whole life in the blink of an eye, and it all suddenly made a little more sense. 

The routines and rules were David’s way of taking back a sliver of control from a chaotic life that had already put him through more than his fair share of turmoil. 

After that night, Patrick stopped distracting him in the morning. Instead, he busied himself by making eggs and coffee, setting David’s place at the table and glancing over the paper while he waited. 

If David noticed the change, he didn’t say anything.

But he did, one morning, come up behind Patrick and press his face into the crook of Patrick’s neck. 

“I love you.”

The words were muffled against Patrick’s skin, only making them feel more special. Patrick took an extra breath to reel in the buzzy, unstoppable affection filling him up just enough so he could manage to say the words back. 

Humming against his shoulder, David pressed a kiss to the spot between Patrick’s neck and his collar bone before he untangled himself and stepped away to get dressed. 

Poking at his eggs, Patrick couldn’t help but grin, his eyes crinkling and his toes curling from the surprise attention.

Over the years, Patrick had gotten used to flying under the radar. 

He had always been a good kid. His parents taught him to be polite and to work hard, and he took those lessons to heart. 

He avoided trouble and got everything done on time. He played sports and made friends and got a part time job as a grocery bagger his junior year. Never at the top, never near the bottom, he graduated 15th in his class and got a baseball scholarship to help with college. 

People described him as dependable. Consistent. 

A particularly unhelpful advisor in college even called him boring once. 

“I didn’t think business majors needed to worry about that.” Patrick had tried to joke to cover up the way the words made his stomach turn heavy.

“Not anymore unfortunately.” The man, ancient even then, had said, “Everyone’s got be some kind of flash-bastard these days. With PowerPoints and synergy and Italian suits.”

After four years of business school, Patrick still couldn’t explain what synergy was and still hadn’t been able to shake that conversation. But he just kept moving forward. 

He got a job in the city and got engaged to his high school sweetheart. 

Everything was…fine. Normal. 

Stiflingly normal. 

Sometimes it felt like he was trapped underwater, watching numbly as his life happen around him, following some predestined formula that everyone else already knew about. 

He tried to talk to Rachel about it but she didn’t understand. She couldn’t see that while she was happy, Patrick was just trying to find space to breath. 

But he kept trudging along because that’s who he was: dependable and consistent; a hard worker. Rachel didn’t realize that she was taking advantage of that every time she asked him to come back and try again. 

Patrick stuck with it as long as he could, but there reached a point where he was going to be crushed under the weight of it all if he didn’t get out soon. So instead of trying to fix things up again, he did the least responsible thing he could do. 

He packed up his car and didn’t stop until he had run out of gas in a little town he’d never heard of. 

It was a little scary, starting over like this, but Patrick also felt more alive than he had in years. 

And then, somehow, he stumbled across an extraordinary man with a good idea and more heart than he knew what to do with; a man whose life was never normal and who needed an hour to get ready in the morning; who thanked him in hushed, reverent tones in the dead of night for always being exactly the way he was.

Patrick would never be able to thank enough lucky stars for David Rose.

So he thanked another, right then and there as he finished making breakfast. Humming a little song, Patrick put the eggs on the table and waited for David to finish getting dressed. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
